Philippines to sign deal with AstraZeneca for 20M doses of COVID-19 vaccine

The Philippine government will sign a deal with British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca for 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine on January 14, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. said Wednesday

"After the signing tomorrow, magkakaroon ng tripartite supply agreement na pipirmahan ng national government, LGU (local government units), at vaccine maker. Ang responsibility ng LGU ay to administer the vaccines," Galvez said during the Laging Handa briefing.

"Iyong supply chain requirement, syringe, lahat ng consumables, integrated po ang efforts ng LGUs, national government, at private sector. Kung ang isang LGU po ay 30% lang ang mabibili [na bakuna gamit ang kanilang budget], national government po ang magpupuno nu'ng 70%," he added.

This is in addition to the earlier tripartite agreement between the Philippine government, the private sector, and AstraZeneca for 2.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine inked last November 2020.

The 2.6 million doses, funded by the private sector and donated to the Philippine government, are good for one million people.

AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, which it developed with Oxford University and given in two doses, has been proven at least 90% effective after human trials. 

AstraZeneca has already secured emergency use authorization (EUA) from the United Kingdom regulators. Likewise, the British firm also applied for EUA before the Philippine Food and Drug Administration last week. 

Unlike other pioneering COVID-19 vaccines made by American firms Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna which were proven at least 95% effective after human trials but require vaccine storage of -20 degrees to -70 degrees Celsius to preserve efficacy, AstraZeneca's product is more appealing to developing countries with limited resources since it is cheaper at only $US 5 per dose or just around P500. It also only requires basic storage temperature of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius. 

LGUs can pick other brands

Most of the LGUs have expressed desire to purchase COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca, but Galvez clarified this does not mean that LGUs are not open to purchasing COVID-19 vaccines from other brands. 

“Hindi kasi puwede dumeretso ang LGUs sa lahat ng vaccine makers. Kinausap namin ang vaccine makers, at ang pumayag lang po [na makarederetso ang LGUs] ay AstraZeneca, Novovax at Moderna. Fina-finalize po namin ang  tripartite agreement [between vaccine makers, the national government and LGUs],” Galvez pointed out.

“Sa ngayon po, itong tatlong vaccine makers ang puwedeng pagpilian ng ating mga LGUs,” Galvez added.

During a Senate hearing Monday, Galvez said 50,000 Filipinos are expected to get COVID-19 vaccine by February. The government aims to inoculate 50 to 70 million Filipinos.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier said the Philippine government has identified a total of 4,512 fixed vaccination points in the country where COVID-19 immunization will be conducted.

The country has also secured 30 million doses of Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine, Covovax, which will be manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and 25 million from Sinovac.

The Philippines has recorded 491,258 COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday. Of this number, 458,172 recovered while 9,554 died.

The number of active COVID-19 cases is at 23,532.—AOL/KG, GMA News